TC Daily Pit Stop: Raikkonen Back With Trackhouse at COTA; Hendrick Fielding No. 17 in Four Xfinity Races; Emerling Back in No. 53 Entry at Phoenix
TC Daily Pit Stop: Raikkonen Back With Trackhouse at COTA; Hendrick Fielding No. 17 in Four Xfinity Races; Emerling Back in No. 53 Entry at Phoenix
TC Daily Pit Stop: Thursday, March 9th, 2023
Kimi Räikkönen Continuing NASCAR Journey with Trackhouse, PROJECT91 at COTA
PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Graythen / Getty Images
Kimi Räikkönen liked his NASCAR Cup Series experience at Watkins Glen International last year that he is back to give NASCAR racing another try in 2023. On Wednesday, Trackhouse Racing announced that the Finnish racer will once again pilot the team’s PROJECT91 entry at Circuit of the Americas later this month.
The No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro will carry sponsorship from Onx Homes and iLOQ for the effort.
Ultimately, Räikkönen’s debut last season ended with a crash around the midway point of the race, but the 2007 F1 World Champion had made his way into the top-15 during his first NASCAR Cup Series event before the crash.
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HendrickCars.com Sponsoring Four NASCAR Xfinity Races Between Larson, Byron and Bowman in 2023
Photo Credit: Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Hendrick Motorsports will return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in a part-time effort in 2023, marking the second-consecutive year that the team has competed in the series.
The team will field the No. 17 Chevrolet Camaro with sponsorship from HendrickCars.com in four races and driving duties will be split between Kyle Larson, William Byron and Alex Bowman.
Byron will pilot the car at COTA on March 25th, Larson will run at Sonoma on June 10th and Darlington on September 2nd, while Bowman will run Watkins Glen on August 19th.
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Patrick Emerling Back in No. 53 at Phoenix, McLaughlin to Return at Talladega
PHOTO CREDIT: Jonathan McCoy, TobyChristie.com
NASCAR updated the NASCAR Xfinity Series entry list for this weekend’s race at Phoenix Raceway on Wednesday, and in the update, Patrick Emerling was listed as the new driver of the No. 53 Emerling-Gase entry. CJ McLaughlin was originally listed in the No. 53.
McLaughlin confirmed to TobyChristie.com that he will sit out this weekend’s race and next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. McLaughlin will return to the team at Talladega Superspeedway.
Emerling drove the No. 53 in last week’s race at Las Vegas after McLaughlin was involved in a crash during practice for the event, forcing the team to go to a backup car.